Okay for Now
Author: Gary D. Schmidt (Also author of Wednesday Wars)
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Cover
Citation: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9165406-okay-for-now?ac=1&from_search=1
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But I picked the wrong
day. Because there never are any right days.
“Are you crazy…you want me to take you Yankee
Stadium because you lost some lousy baseball cap?”
“It’s not just some
lousy-”
That’s all I got out.
My father’s hands are quick. That’s
the kind of guy he is.
Doug Swieteck is surrounded by
bullies. A dad who does things that well…you don’t need to know. An older
brother who knows where to beat him up the right and in hard to notice places,
and another older brother (the eldest) who did the same thing, but is now doing
it in Vietnam. After getting fired from his job at the lumber company upon
getting into a fight with his boss, Doug’s dad decides to move the family up to
stupid Marysville in upstate New York. Doug’s arrival isn’t a particularly
welcomed one as he is treated like a thug, not only by the town deli owner’s
daughter, Lil Spicer, but by the rest of the town as well. And he’s fine with
it because he didn’t even want to come to stupid, boring Marysville. However,
he does find something worth his while to do. Enraptured by Audubon’s Birds of America, Doug
begins reflecting the struggles and troubles of his life with the birds he
learns to draw. And with a little help from Lil, and his own occasional
courageousness, Doug is able to find some adults who will actually treat him
like he means something. Told from a first person point-of-view, Okay for Now tells of Doug and
his coming-of-age. From his perspective, you see signs of abuse, loneliness,
and self-deprecation, but also of love, redemption, and triumph. You will
definitely want to give it a read.
